


Paperwork

by Glass_CatOwl



Series: Returning & Other Stories [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AMAB Trans Character, Along with some pre-relationship fluff, Coming Out, Gen, Hope you like that sort of thing, Improbably Efficient Bureaucracy, LGBTQ+ Themes, Percy using his pencil-pushing powers for good, Pre-Relationship, Stuff about werewolves, This was meant to be pre-relationship fluff but turned into a manifesto on the Werewolf Registry, Trans Audrey, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 08:11:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glass_CatOwl/pseuds/Glass_CatOwl
Summary: Though nobody would be able to tell — it was winter, and she had official Ministry robes on over her other clothes — she was, for the first time, wearing a skirt to work.And today, she was going to ask her coworkers to call her Audrey.-In which efficient bureaucracy gives Audrey a much needed confidence boost about coming out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Minor attack of dysphoria; inappropriate questions; fears and discussion of transphobia; coming out-related anxieties. Also, That One Coworker who you always know is going to be an insensitive dick. (Let me know if there are additional warnings I should add.)

Audrey hesitated outside the door that led into the offices she shared with her colleagues. She’d joined the Ministry of Magic out of a strong desire for reform, and to her surprise Minister Shacklebolt had not only _read_ her proposal that the Werewolf Registry be permanently removed from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, he had approved it _and_ appointed her the task of transferring the registry materials to the Administrative Registration Office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. That order had come just yesterday, and she would be attracting a great deal of attention from the other members of the Office — not all of it positive.

There was another thing that made her pause, though, and grip her wand a little tighter. Though nobody would be able to tell — it was winter, and she had official Ministry robes on over her other clothes — she was, for the first time, wearing a skirt to work.

And today, she was going to ask her coworkers to call her Audrey.

She had struggled with the Muggle computers in a local library to find tips and scripts about how to ‘come out’ to people. The stories people had were awful. For every one person who’d been accepted, there were ten who’d been ridiculed, ignored, or abused. She hoped that witches and wizards were more accepting, but then they weren’t recovering from a war because magic made people open and compassionate, were they?

“Andrew?” The office door opened and Varius Doge stuck his head out. “You coming in or are you going to stand out there all day?”

 _Merlin’s beard, I am not ready for this_. “Um, Varius? Would you mind… Uh, I mean, could you—”

“Weasley’s already assigned me and Olivia to help you with the Werewolf Registry, Andy,” Varius interrupted. “And do we have work to do! I don’t think this filing has been updated since the first war. Olivia’s already outlining a whole new set of questions. You know,” he added in a hushed voice, “I don’t know why Weasley let her on this. She’s not exactly an objective perspective, y’know?”

“Well, neither are you,” Audrey replied sharply, pushing past him and into the office. “Besides, haven’t you ever heard of ‘nothing about us without us’?”

“What’s that s’pposed to mean?”

“It’s a caveat that no policies pertaining to a marginalised group should be produced without substantial input from members of that group.”

Varius snorted derisively. “What, so murderers should be in charge of laws about killing? What a load of crap.”

“Murderers aren’t a marginalised group, they’re people who’ve committed a particular crime. Which you well know, so stop being an idiot on purpose.”

“Whatever, Prissy.” Varius laughed and Audrey decided firmly that he was _not_ going to be the first person she asked to call her by her proper name. She had shared a dormitory at Hogwarts with Varius for seven years and she knew he’d start interrogating her immediately. _What do you_ **_mean_** _, you were a girl this whole time? You can’t be, I’ve seen you changing clothes. If you really were, wouldn't someone have been able to magically tell and send you to the right dormitory? Have you tried transfiguring yourself to look more like a woman? Have you transfigured your_ —

She forced herself to stop thinking about that. Maybe she should ask Olivia first, or maybe Lance. Definitely not Marion, who would try to convince her that she was a gay man, as though Audrey hadn’t been through that a thousand times already. Or maybe she should wait a while — after all, today was already going to be full of drama about the Werewolf Registry.

Dozens of mouldy file boxes were piled all over the small office that had been assigned to the Werewolf Registry. Olivia had managed to drag out an old blackboard and charm it with the appearance of the old Werewolf Registration form; she had crossed out various questions and replaced them with new ones, often adding short comments to the old questions such as _Pointless_ , _Invasive_ , and _Dehumanising_.

“Olivia, we _do_ need to keep the questions about where and how they live,” Varius objected, seeing her cross out the various questions about address and living arrangements. “What if they go rogue?”

“Actually, we _don’t—_ ” Olivia scrawled the word _Redundant_ over the questions. “—because this office already has every witch and wizard in the country’s details, by order of the International Statute of Secrecy. All keeping that information with _these_ files does is make it easier for a potential thief or _rogue_ Ministry official to target werewolves for hate crimes.”

“And security?”

“We can ask, ‘Do you feel your current situation allows you and others to be adequately protected during the times of your transformation?’,” Audrey suggested. “And beneath that, ‘If not, what assistance could the Ministry offer to improve this?’.”

Varius began, “We can’t act like handouts are on the cards—”

“They damn well should be,” Olivia interrupted. “I spend half my salary on Wolfsbane potion, and I’m one of the ones lucky enough to have a job.”

“There has to be give and take if we want people to comply with the new Registry,” Audrey agreed. “And it _is_ in the interests of public safety.”

“True,” Varius agreed reluctantly.“But you’ll still need approval from higher up if it involves money.”

“I’ll ask Mr Weasley now, then. He can pass it on to the head of the department.”

She walked swiftly along the hallway, passing Marion’s cubicle along the way. Marion gave her a stern look and began, “I need to have a word, Mr Parkes,” but Audrey, knowing that said word would mostly involve reprimands about the Office budget and how werewolves were no business of theirs, said, “Sorry, Marion, late for a meeting,” and dodged into Percy Weasley’s office.

Percy was a tall, thin man of twenty-three, young for his position but largely unchallenged due to his ruthlessly organised nature. If the rumours about him — that he had worked willingly under Thicknesse, that he had deliberately and bureaucratically sabotaged the influx of accused Muggleborns, that he had fought the Minister at the Battle of Hogwarts — were true, then he was a very complicated man, but Audrey knew him mainly as her boss. He was nice, in an anal-retentive kind of way, usually tired and already greying at the roots of his bright red hair. He looked at her through horn-rimmed glasses. “Good morning, Mr Parkes.”

“Mr Weasley,” she replied, nodding. “We were looking through the old Werewolf Registry files and decided that part of what made it unsuccessful was the lack of support for those who don’t have access to protective measures, like safe restraints or the Wolfsbane Potion. We’d like to put in an application for budget appraisal.”

Other bosses might have shaken their heads at how soon after moving the Werewolf Registry was discovered to be in need of funding, but Percy merely nodded, wrote down a short message and tapped the parchment with his wand: the memo flew out the door in the direction of the Head of Department’s office. “I’ll let you know when the reply arrives. Is there anything else, Mr Parkes?”

“Miss.”

Percy looked up. “Pardon?”

Audrey felt faint. The word had just… jumped out, even though Mr Weasley was the _last_ person she would have thought of telling. But she had said it, and she hurried to stop herself from taking it back. “Miss Parkes, please, Mr Weasley.” And then added hastily, “Audrey Parkes.”

She held her hands behind her back — they felt too big, too mannish to be seen at this moment. She was hyperaware of the prickly shortness of her auburn hair, the hard lines of her body, the masculine shape of her face. At that moment she wished that she had started with some kind of transfiguration, or hormones, or potions — she was sure that everyone would see not her, a woman, but a man in a dress.

Percy blinked once and replied, “Certainly. Would you like a form?”

Audrey stared at him. “I… What?”

“A form. To change your details?” Percy’s forehead furrowed slightly. “Of course, it’s not a requirement. There’s no reason to officially change your name if you don’t want to, but there is the option.”

“There is?” The Ministry was in such a state at the moment that she hadn’t thought little things like that were really a priority.

“This _is_ the Administrative Registration Office, Miss Parkes,” Percy replied with a familiar edge of faint irritability. “Of course, Donovan did suggest that various non-essentials be put on the backburner if we found it necessary, but really, very little is ‘non-essential’ in practice.”

“Could I change the name on my desk? When we sort out the desks?”

Percy seemed surprised by her eagerness. “Yes, of course. It’s your name.”

“Then yes, please, I’d like a form.”

He summoned a sheet of parchment from a nearby shelf and handed it to her. “You can hand it in to me any time,” he started to say, but she had already pulled out a quill and started to fill it out.

It was a clear, efficient form, and she suspected that Mr Weasley had been through this lot — he liked having questions divided into sections so people could skip the irrelevant ones. All she had to do — she’d thought this would take arguments and testimonies and (she shivered slightly) _surgeries_ —but no, all she had to do was tick the details to change and her new information. _Male_ became _Female_ , title went from _Mr_ to _Miss_ (she debated over Ms, then decided to worry about it later), and then her name, the name she’d stressed and agonised over for years, went from _Andrew Louis Parkes_ to _Audrey Louise Parkes_.

Just like that.

She checked that it wasn’t double-sided, thinking there must be more, but there wasn’t. Sign on the dotted line, tap it with her wand, and she handed the form back to her boss.

“I’ll file it right away,” he said, eyes quickly scanning over the parchment to check she’d filled everything out correctly — force of habit, most likely, because you didn’t work under Percy Weasley without quickly developing some excellent paperwork skills — and then adding it to his own in-tray.

She wondered if he was deliberately sparing her having a colleague go over her file or if he just thought he would be more efficient. Either way, she was grateful. “Thank you, Mr Weasley.”

“You’re welcome, Miss Parkes.” Percy frowned and added hesitantly, “May I ask you a personal question?”

Audrey felt like an icy hand had just grabbed her by the stomach. She had heard about this. The questions about her — her _anatomy_. She recognised beyond her fear a sense of disappointment. She would never have expected this of Mr Weasley. Varius, yes, but… Well, she ought to get some practice in before facing Varius’s inevitable interrogation. “Yes, Mr Weasley?”

He hesitated, blushing slightly, before asking, “Why Audrey? I thought the traditional feminine of Andrew is Andrea — no, it’s none of my business.” His blush heightened in colour until it almost matched his hair. “I’m so sorry, I really was raised to have better manners than this.”

She stared at him. He might have changed his mind at the last moment, but no, that really _had_ been his question. She nearly laughed aloud. It _was_ personal, in what Percy Weasley would consider personal — as in, having nothing to do with work. Personal as in person.

“Andrea didn’t feel exactly _right_ ,” she replied, considering. “I don’t know why I chose Audrey in the end. It just sort of… suits me.”

“It rather does,” Mr Weasley replied, his embarrassment subsiding a little.

Audrey beamed at him. “I’m really glad you didn’t ask me about my genitals.”

The blush returned in full force. “I— _what?_ ”

“Some people do.”

Percy looked affronted. “That’s, that’s…”

“Rude, I know.”

“Unconscionably invasive,” he declared with righteous pomposity that was unusually endearing at that moment. “And thoroughly against Ministry policy. If any of your colleagues ask such a thing, they will answer to me.”

She was about to reply when they were interrupted by a memo flying into the room and landing in Percy’s in-tray. He picked it up and read it quickly before handing it to her. “Your application for budget appraisal has been approved. Contact Madam Meridian in the Treasury Office.”

“Excellent.” Audrey was friends with Elise Meridian, one of the few non-misers in the Treasury Office. She had worked under her during her first internship with the Ministry. “I’ll get back to the others now. Fair rules don’t write themselves.”

“They do not. Good morning, Miss Parkes.”

She tried not to grin too wildly as she left. _Miss Parkes, Audrey Parkes, Miss Audrey Louise Parkes!_

Marion blocked her way, hands on hips. “Mr Parkes? Andrew!”

“Miss Parkes, Audrey, and werewolves are most definitely our business,” she replied, practically skipping past the older witch. She didn’t bother to note Marion’s reaction.

“What did he say?” Olivia asked anxiously as soon as Audrey opened the door.

“Probably mad about us asking for money so soon,” Varius said pointedly.

Audrey shook her head and handed Olivia the memo. “Meridian’s a good sort,” she said as Olivia read it. “Just follow proper procedure on accounting.” Thinking that she had told Marion of all people, so she ought to tell her close colleagues before Marion started a rumour she was gay and/or having an identity crisis, she added, “Oh, and I’m a woman. My name is Audrey.”

Both of them stared at her for a moment before Olivia broke out in a smile of childish glee. Pointing at Varius, she exclaimed, “Ha! We outnumber you now!”

“We?” Audrey asked, bemused.

“Girls,” Olivia said cheerfully. “I knew there was a reason I fancied you when we first met, even though I thought you were a guy.”

“I’m flattered.”

“Straight?”

Audrey nodded.

Olivia sighed dramatically. “Why are all the girls I like straight?”

Audrey smiled and patted her on the back. “Buck up. If we get the registry in order, you can bet there’ll be enough demand to make Wolfsbane available at Mungo’s, and then you’ll have more time and money to spend impressing pretty girls.”

Varius was still staring. “But… you were in my _dormitory_ ,” he spluttered.

“Yes, and your snoring sounds like a grindylow swallowing flobberworms. Ask any of the gross questions you’ve just thought of and I’ll set Mr Weasley on you.”

After a moment, Varius said, “I don’t understand this.”

“I’ll get you a children’s book on it,” Olivia offered. “With no big words or difficult concepts.”

Audrey folded her arms over her chest. “Do you want to know what’s under my robes, Varius?” He gave her a look of half terror, half curiosity, and nodded. She leaned towards him and said clearly, “ _A skirt_.”

And lo, from that day forwards, Varius Doge never asked anybody about their private parts ever again.


End file.
